John Van Nostrand

John Van Nostrand

Guide: Washington, Alaska, International

John comes to AAI with over 17 years of guiding experience and over a decade of nursing experience in critical care and emergency medicine. He completed a graduate degree in Nursing from The University of Colorado and is a Certified Nurse Practitioner and works in Internal Medicine as a Hospitalist. He is also pediatric life support, advanced life support and a trauma certified nurse. John specializes in advanced and complex wound care. Additionally John is very interested in wilderness medicine and teaches Wilderness First Responder courses for Desert Mountain Medicine.

John grew up rock climbing in New England before moving to Colorado where he now lives in Carbondale and escapes to a tiny house in Marble, CO with his wife and wolf hound for weekends. He has 22 years of rock climbing, ice climbing and mountaineering experience and has worked for Alpine Ascents International for the last 6 years guiding in the Cascades, Alaska, Argentina and Nepal. John’s main passion include growing a beard, training Tony Yaniro style in his garage and establishing new rock climbs on the Western Slope of Colorado. He has over 100 first ascents to his name. John hopes to share his passion for climbing and healthy living to all. His priority is to provide high quality guided experiences to all his clients at Alpine Ascents International.

ALPINE ASCENTS BLOG

Sometimes the harsh environment encountered in mountaineering can make even the simplest tasks difficult. Staying hydrated is a perfect example – something that is among the most banal of tasks in the lowcountry can become exceedingly complicated in a cold, snowy environment. When all available water is locked up in solid form as snow or […]

The following is the fifth in a series of “how-to” videos on the major knots and hitches used in the mountains. Stay tuned for more videos on knots like the bowline and ring bend, and hitches like the Klemheist and Prusik! The water knot is a simple knot used to tie two ends of webbing […]

The following is the fifth in a series of “how-to” videos on the major knots and hitches we use in the mountains. Stay tuned for more videos on knots like the bowline, ring bend- and hitches like the Klemheist & Prusik! The Figure 8 follow through is a standard knot used for many different purposes […]